12MPG around town normal?

[ChrisTBird]

hi all, when I first bought the 04 T-bird I drove it 1500 miles home, and checked my miles per gallon and it was consistently just over 25 MPG highway.

around town seemed like I was getting around 17

now with my last two tanks, I'm getting 12. I will admit that I do a lot of idling and I have a remote starter that I use once in awhile which runs for about 20 minutes. we may also now be on "winter gas", if that makes any difference.

but 12 still seems kind of low even with all that. is anybody else getting that for an average miles per gallon City driving?

thanks for any input.
:)




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[chromer]

You must be idling a helluva lot. I hotrod around town and still get l7 mpg. And, yeah, 25, on road trips. I really don't think 'winter gas' would make any difference.

[merlot4]

My guess, which admittedly is just that, is that you have already figured out the problem. The winter gas is different and could also have some effect, as could the prolonged idling. If the traffic is holiday worse, you could also be doing more stop and go than usual. The easy way is to stop the long idling, and also try a different gas station. If you are putting in a lower octane, that will also have an effect.

[4LOWBIRDS+7]

Always 18 plus on all of the Thunderbirds in town.

[ChrisTBird]

OK well, that's good news at least I dont have to live with 12, but with no check engine light, what could it be? I did have a brief misfire at idle a couple times but only briefly after prolonged idling.

[steelblue5505]

one or more bad COP could give you this result with never ever giving you a check engine light. Check engine light is a result of mis-fire counts between restarts. There is a threshold of mis-fires that must be achieved before the check engine light will come on. If that threshold does not happen before the car is shut off & then re-started the count is lost, never kept. At the new start-up the count begins again from zero.

And each COP has its own code, each code has to achieve its own threshold. for example COP 3 could mis-fire once, COP 5 could mis-fire a little later that counts as one also not 2 total mis-fires even though there was two mis-fires.

Also winter gas usually is not a factor unless it is really really bad gas. The T-Bird's engine control modules are capable of making adjustments for gasoline variables.

[ChrisTBird]

OK, well there's been mention here of the cheap 8 pack of COPS on ebay (under $50, incredibly). I also saw a set on Amazon but the reviews complain that they are 1/4" too tall. I may as well do plugs and COPS just to rule those out (cheap enough I guess), any recommendation on COPS sources/brands that have actually worked out would be great. And, I may as well ask about plugs brand etc too, since I am new to TBirds. I will also of course do a search.

Thanks!

[kbrighton]

Don't idle. You're getting 0 MPG while doing that.

[Rodeo Joe]

The cold weather up here lately probably isn't helping much either.

Joe

[ChrisTBird]

OK I ordered the Amazon COPs, $35 for the set of eight.

I've searched but it's hard to decide. What's a good spark plug to get? I don't want to spend a mint on them but also dont want to cheap out either. Bosch 4419 is out of stock at Amazon, also looking at the NGK 7994. But I have no idea really on plugs!

[4LOWBIRDS+7]

I use Motorcraft.

[RBIRD]

Chris, I went with Motorcraft SP-468 Finewire Platinum and have been happy with them. A direct replacement for the original plug, if I am correct. With new COP's, an amazing change for the better!

RBIRD

[ISSYRO]

I love the Bosch 4419 plugs, I believe I ordered the last six on Amazon recently. I am waiting for them to become available again or I will purchase the last two locally.

[FEsTbird]

Check your tires. I find that when my tires get low, gas mileage drops.

[ChrisTBird]

I just ordered Bosch 4419 plugs from a parts dealer on eBay for $28 for eight (13.99 for each pack of four).